<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Liam Donovan's Idea of an Emergency by sammysouffle</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23391511">Liam Donovan's Idea of an Emergency</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammysouffle/pseuds/sammysouffle'>sammysouffle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollyoaks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, James Nightingale is just done, Light Angst, M/M, Manipulative Liam Donovan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:59:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23391511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sammysouffle/pseuds/sammysouffle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>James is in the middle of witness prep when he gets an urgent message from his partner. He assumes the worst.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Nightingale/Liam Donovan, Liam Donovan &amp; James Nightingale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Liam Donovan's Idea of an Emergency</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The only way I am keeping my sanity after Liam's death is through these fics. Hope this makes you smile even just a little.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>James is in the middle of preparing his witness along with his two partners when he gets the text. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>🚨🚨EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!🚨🚨 COME NOW!!!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A thousand different scenarios of what could possibly be wrong starts running through James’ head as he reads the message. None of them good. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Where are you? At the police station? Did you get arrested again? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything okay?” Sami asks, giving him a concerned look. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am not sure,” James replies truthfully as he awaits his partner’s message with bated breath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s Liam, isn’t it? Did he get arrested again?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James is vividly aware that even his colleagues know of his partner’s constant brush with the law. But the fact is that none of them are saints so it doesn’t bother him as much as it should. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t kno-” Before James even finish his thought, he gets another message from Liam. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>No, I’m outside The Dog. Get here. NOW! IT’S A SERIOUS SITUATION!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Dog. Emergency. This cannot be good. James is pretty sure one of these days, he will have a heart attack thanks to his partner. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have to go,” he says haphazardly stuffing his files into his messenger bag. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait… What? James, the only reason I came here was because of you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James looks at his phone and then looks up at their witness, Mr. Prichard,  who seems as distressed as James feels. “Mr. Prichard, I assure you, you are in good hands. My colleagues are two of the best attorneys in all of Chester.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“James, Mr. Prichard clearly prefers you, are you sure you can’t stay just to put his mind at ease?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-” James struggles. “I wish I could, Verity, but I have an emergency.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Liam.” James watches Sami mouth to Verity whose expression changes immediately. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, alright then,” she says, “Mr. Prichard, we promise to prepare you as well as James would have-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James does not wait to hear the rest of the conversation, instead preferring to rush out of the office as fast as his legs would take him. The drive back to the village seems to take forever and in that time James goes over everything he needs to do in case Liam has hurt Mercedes or worse… killed her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I got here as soon as I could.” James is almost out of breath by the time he gets to Mercedes’ pub and finds Liam lurking outside. “Where is the body?” James wipes his drenched face with his handkerchief and tries to calm himself down. It wouldn’t do them any good if both of them were panicking. “Okay, we’ve got this. I can easily paint this as an act of self-defense or I can at least spin this as manslaughter. Because you were not planning her murder, at least I didn’t think you were-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whoa, whoa, James, calm down,” Liam’s hands are suddenly on his shoulders in a strong grip. “What are you talking about?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You- You’ve killed Mercedes, haven’t you? That’s why you called me here,” James replies nervously. “Wait… that </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>why you sent the SOS, didn’t you?” He asks suspiciously when he doesn’t find even a little panic or concern on Liam’s face. If anything, he looks as relaxed as he did this morning and there is no blood on his clothes -not that that means anything. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, of course, that’s not wh-” Liam pauses and removes his hands from James’ shoulders “Oh,” he mumbles scratching the back of his head while giving James an embarrassed look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Liam,” closing his eyes, James tries to calm himself down by counting backward. It works… just a little. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why</span>
  </em>
  <span> did you call me here?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… because I wanted to show you something,” Liam replies awkwardly. “But- but it’s important. Very, very important. Trust me,” he quickly adds just as James is about to explode on him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s so important that you had to scare me half to death and make me leave work in the middle of the day?” Oh, Liam is definitely not going on the couch tonight. He is getting kicked right out of the house for almost giving James a heart attack and making him fear the worst. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I better show you because even I can’t put what I just saw into words-” he slowly opens the closed door of the pub and pushes it ever so gently much to James’ confusion. The Dog is never closed and James starts fearing the worst again. “Look. And don’t make a noise,” Liam whispers and steps aside from the door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James gives him a confused look and steps in front of the slightly ajar door to peek inside. His jaw drops and his eyes widen in horror at the scene before him. “WH-” a hand clamps over his mouth before James can finish his thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shhh!” Liam hushes in his ear slowly closing the door behind them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the- what was- what did I just see?!” James wonders out loud. His brain feels like it’s stopped working once again. “Mercedes… AND GRACE?” He doesn’t know whether he wants to faint or puke or both. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, they’ve been playing tonsil hockey for 20 minutes now. I timed it. Did not even come up for air ONCE. I don’t know whether to be concerned or jealous,” Liam looks like he’s talking more to himself than James. “You can’t even go 5 minutes without pushing me away and gasping for air.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James throws him an annoyed look but then shakes his head, “I am going to ignore that,” he says. “So THIS is what you called me here for? I thought you were in some serious trouble, Liam! You could have just sent me a photo!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam cocks an eyebrow at him in return, “Would you have believed the photo?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I would have thought you doctored it,” James replies offhandedly before realizing what he just said. “Oh.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, OH.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James wants nothing more than to wipe that smug look off his partner’s face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So are you not glad that I called you to give you a live preview of the Grace and Mercedes makeout session?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James crosses his arms across his chest and just rolls his eyes at the other man. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now, the real question is what shall we do with this information?” The mischievous gleam that appears in Liam’s eyes scares James just a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We? Oh, no. There’s no </span>
  <em>
    <span>we </span>
  </em>
  <span>in this,” James says throwing his hands. “You are on your own.” As he starts to walk away, he hears footsteps following him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are the only other witness to this </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>scandalous rendezvous AND you are my partner in crime, therefore, we are in this together. Besides, you can’t tell me you are not even a little interested in messing Grace and Mercedes about, knowing you finally have something to hold over them?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James takes a deep breath and stops in his tracks. He turns around to glare at Liam only to see him smirking at him self-assuredly. He hates how the man knows him so well. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thought so,” Liam walks up to James and smacks him on the bum, making James yelp in surprise. “Now I am guessing you have the rest of the afternoon off?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes?” James replies unsurely. He doesn’t like where this is going. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great,” Liam says gleefully. “That means we can spend the next three hours having vigorous sex, followed by afternoon tea, followed by planning our move against Grace and Mercedes, followed by more vigorous sex. Rest of the day… sorted.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James hates to admit it but he actually likes that plan. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>